Layers of Truth
by Stranger In A Normal Land
Summary: What if one character wasn't as stupid as they often seem? What truths might lie beneath the surface?


Disclaimer: Ranma ain't mine. If you have a problem with that, buy the rights, and give 'em to me. This story is for entertainment purposes only, and not for blah blah blah. You really don't care, do you?  
  
Layers of Truth  
  
I hate Saotome Ranma. I hate him with every fibre of my being. I told him once  
  
that I would destroy his happiness, and I meant it. However, it will take cunning.  
  
I have long known that I cannot beat him in a fair fight. Yet I keep challenging him. Why?  
  
Everyone sees of me what I want them to see. Even Nabiki is fooled. By playing a simpleton  
  
who blames everything on Ranma, and attacks him, even though he could destroy me without  
  
trying, I keep people from considering that I might attack on another front. A simple  
  
trick, useful in both magic, and war.  
  
Why do I do this? Because I blame him for running out on our fight? Because he got  
  
me cursed? Don't be silly. I know Ranma better than nearly anyone. We went to school   
  
together for a year, remember? He walked me home every day. We were friends. No, his father  
  
must have physically dragged him from that empty lot where we were supposed to fight. He   
  
would never leave a challenge, otherwise. As for my curse, it was just bad luck. I didn't,   
  
at the time, realize that it was Ranma who knocked me in, but I saw how focused he was on   
  
the panda; he probably didn't realize I was there, and I was too shocked to dodge in time.  
  
No, the reason I hate him is more basic than anything he's ever done to me. I've   
  
known what it was, for a long time now. Jealousy, pure and simple. He's a better man than I   
  
can ever be. No matter how hard I train, he'll always beat me. No matter how honorable I act,   
  
he'll do better without trying. No matter if I try to do the right thing, he'll sacrifice   
  
himself to do the right thing, without even thinking about it. And, even after everything I   
  
do to him, he still considers me a friend. Why do you think he attacts flocks of women? Who  
  
wouldn't want to be with him? And I know I can never be half the man he is. So I will destroy   
  
him.  
  
You might have noticed, I haven't yet mentioned Akane. What's there to say? He's right   
  
when he insults her. She's a violent, quick-tempered tomboy, an inept martial artist, and quite   
  
possibly the worst cook possible. She could make pure water lethal. If it didn't involve Ranma,  
  
I'd want absolutely nothing to do with her. What, steal her from him? That would be cutting off  
  
my nose to spite my face. Why would I suffer with her, just to make him suffer? No, I want them  
  
to end up together.   
  
Haven't you ever noticed how each scheme to break them up, just gets them   
  
closer together, in the end? I have. As P-Chan, she gets upset at him for picking on me, true,   
  
but, in private, she tells me that, when she thinks about it, it shows he's jealous, and must,   
  
therefore, like her. On that day when I first met her, I conceived this plan. When I told him  
  
I would destroy his happiness, he asked her if he was happy. Right then and there, I realized   
  
that he implicitly trusted and liked her. When I saw how violent and quick-tempered she was, my  
  
plan was born. By the time they marry, they'll be forever in love, and so, he'll willingly   
  
suffer for the rest of his life her temper, violence, and cooking.  
  
Revenge is sweet.  
  
--------------------------------------------  
  
Author's notes:  
  
This came from rereading the manga. I was thinking about the line where Ryoga  
  
says, "I will destroy your happiness!", and Ranma asks Akane if he's happy. Then, it occurred   
  
to me that, throughout his first appearance, Ryoga completely ignored Akane, until he apologized  
  
about the hair, and that seemed only due to everyone else's reaction. Then, everything he does   
  
to try to break up Ranma and Akane seems to backfire. Yet he still seems obsessed with hurting   
  
Ranma, as evidenced by their constant fights, and "Ranma! Prepare to die!"'s.  
  
Then, I thought, "What if Ryoga isn't as dumb as he always appears? What if this was all  
  
part of his plot to, as he said, destroy Ranma's happiness?". The rest just kinda came naturally.  
  
The title is from the movie "Basic", which I've seen a couple times, recently. One   
  
character says, "there are layers of truth", and, when trying to title this story, that's what I  
  
thought of. Ryoga's actions in the series are a layer of truth, but his underlying motives in   
  
this short work are another.  
  
YAY! Reviews! 'Kay, I'm going to respond to a couple of the reviews I've received so far.  
  
Blue Dragon4: 4 out of what? ^_^  
  
Ghost: Of course Ranma loves Akane. That's Ryoga's revenge. Sure, Ranma kinda cared for her when Ryoga first showed up, but everything Ryoga does either makes Ranma jealous, or brings Ranma and Akane closer together. And, no, I don't think she's that bad. I really like Akane. However, look at it from Ryoga's point of view; his first experience with her is when she hit both him and Ranma after her hair got cut. As p-chan, he sleeps in her bed. From the book (I forget which) where happosai dresses up as p-chan, and she sleeps on the roof with him, we know that she's very violent in her sleep. Ryoga constantly sees Akane beating the royal crap out of Ranma over each and every percieved slight. Even though she isn't really that bad, that's most of what he sees from her. As for him talking about his love for Akane, according to the "reality" this story presents, he's getting into character. As he says in my fic, "If it didn't involve Ranma, I'd want absolutely nothing to do with her." Consistently pretending to be a sap, secretly in love, with someone whom in reality you don't care for in the least, takes a LOT of practice, I'd imagine. Yay for Ad Hoc explanations! :-D  
  
Everyone should review my writings. Or I'll go sulk. 


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